Thursday, December 23, 2010

On Canadian radio there is a law in place, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission, that requires a certain amount (35%) of their content to be Canadian. On one hand this is good because it assures that young Canadian artists will have a chance for success and not be overshadowed by more popular artists from the United States. On the other hand it sucks because A) a ton of really shitty bands get airplay they don't deserve, because they are Canadian (I'm looking at you Hedley) and B) they get ahold of a decent band and just play the shit out of them. As as result, there's a lot of bands that are pretty fucking rad, but I can get turned off of because they are played on 102.1 The Edge so much.

Sidenote: The worst part of these bands getting played is the assholes that come to the shows. I don't want to sound like a cynical "I was there before you" jerk, but I've been following The Flatliners for a pretty long time now (I think right before Destroy To Create came out) and the shows have been getting kind of shitty lately because of the kids that come because they heard "This Respirator" on the radio. The pinnacle was the show I went to last week. It just sucks that all the "Moto-X" kids come to shows wearing Metal Mulisha and stuff because they haven't grown out of punk and started listening to dub-step and shitty hip-hop yet.

One such of these bands was Attack In Black. Their debut album "Marriage" came out and the first single "Young Leaves" received loads and loads of airplay. This is around 2007 and maybe into 2008 a little bit. I hated it. A large part of this was that it was on the radio every time I turned it on and was getting tired of it. This is also due to the fact that back in those days I barely listened to anything that wasn't ska or skate punk and hadn't gone through my enlightenment to good song writing (and hadn't realized that girls are the devil yet).

But, because of a compilation cd I had two Attack In Black songs on my computer that weren't "Young Leaves" (they were Marriage and Broken Things). After "Marriage" started to lean towards the folkier side of their music and put a ton of music that didn't get the attention that "Marriage" did. The overplaying of the single also obviously died down after a while and I found myself enjoying "Broken Things" a little bit (C'mon, try not to yell along to the "these are the broken things in my life" part. Dare you.) because I was starting to come around to better songwriters at that time.

So that track got a decent amount of play and earlier this year I finally got around to getting "Marriage". It is just a phenomenal album. Attack In Black was originally more of a punk band and have morphed into a folkier thing. I guess it's fair to say that this album is the middle ground between the two. What I like about it (a lot!) is that it avoids the Re-Inventing Axl Rose-era Against Me! stereotypes that usually plague the genre. Rather than sticking to the open C/G/Am/Em chord structure that everyone bastardizes, they do a bunch of cool stuff (drop D tuning!). It's really a rock-punk record that healthy Canadian folk influence. On top of this is a dude who is just in every way, shape and form and awesome song-writer.

The other day I was walking through the snow to the bus in a denim jacket and jeans combo (the "Canadian Tuxedo") with this album playing and I don't think I've ever felt more Canadian (re: like a hoser) in my life.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

A ton of people I know always rag on Toronto being a shitty city that is nothing compared to the world's other metropolises. This was something that I was thinking about today

I journeyed downtown to buy some Christmas presents. My adventure today started on the corner of Yonge and Queen and consisted of a walk up to the ROM, through Queen's Park, across Bloor to Yonge and then back down Yonge to Queen. During this walk I realized that, apart from a black hole from a little north of College down to Queen on Yonge, this city fucking rules.

Walking up through Queen's Park you get to see the park itself, which is pretty awesome. It's also right in the middle of the St. George campus of the University if Toronto, which is made up of pretty old (or at least old-looking on the outside) buildings that both show the age and reputation of the university and the city.

The journey across Bloor is one if the most ritzy parts of the city, as most of the city's upscale shopping is there. Obviously it's not stuff that really interests me, but it is a part of the city that looks really sophisticated and nice.

Yonge street (minus the few abhor-able blocks that surround Yonge and Dundas Square) seems to me like throwback Toronto to me (like from the 60's and 70's) there's a ton of independent book stores, food places, comic shops, etc. Granted, there are a ton of McDonald's and other major chains, but they don't dominate the area.

And I think all of these things are pretty cool.

Everyone seems to hate their hometown. Sometimes Scarborough does suck. Warden and Kennedy station are never much fun. The Eaton Centre and surrounding area is a pain in the ass. But I really do think that the city I came from is pretty rad.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

I am writing this blog off a note I left myself in my pocket that reads "TWY, coffee, vans, lib. BO". I'm a fucking scatterbrain with a wild imagination whose mind wanders all day long. So, whenever I have what I think is a good idea I try to leave myself a reminder of what exactly it was so I don't forget. What if it was a great and interesting idea right? Well I guess we'll see how The Wonder Years, a cup of coffee, my pair of green sk8 mids and the second floor of the library smelling terrible have in common.

Oddly enough, it's the University of Guelph's exam period. How will they tie in together? Join me on this wild ride and find out.

So yea, everybody is fucking freaking out because it's time to write finals. Every status is "Not enough hours in the day", "I'm fucked", "I hate school", etc. This kind of pisses me off. I mean, I understand that you want to do well in school and worry about your marks, but everyone is on finals right now. Nobody likes a whiner.

I guess I kind of posted one of these yesterday. Verbatim, mine was "

i wish i could throw all the different parts of art and archeology of greece into a magic bullet and drink it as a smoothie instead of reading it. that would be rad", though I think this was more me commenting on how early Greek art is a little dry and trying to be funny by referencing an infomercial that everyone's seen a hundred times at the same time.

But everyone seems to be rushing around campus, of course they don't have the time to get dressed, so they're in sweat pants and uggs (I think I'm going to mention this again later) and seems to have a "woe is me" attitude because they have 5 (or less) tests over two weeks.

So I was heading back to the library last night to continue my studying of Greek art and architecture. I had The Wonder Years' cover of Lit's "Zip-Lock" blaring and a large coffee and a grin a mile wide across my face because honestly, I felt on top of the world. I've never really stressed very hard over exams. It's actually pretty relaxing to me because there's no class to drag yourself to. Granted, I also only have two finals this semester, but it was the same when I had five. I guess you should take pleasure in the little things. I mean yea, cramming for the next 5 hours sucks. Knowing you're only getting 4 hours of sleep that night sucks too. But jamming to one of my favourite bands and enjoying a warm beverage in the cold weather sure doesn't suck. What's the point of life if you just think about how much things suck all the time?

Upon entering the second floor of the Guelph library, I was immediately hit with a wave of pretty intense body odour. This ties into people just wearing sweat pants and dressing like bums too. I know you want to maximize your study, but you can't take a ten minute shower to wash your hair and rub body wash on your balls? To me, it feels like you're just trying to make everyone feel sorry for you, "oh I have to study so much, fuck my life". It's the same for the clothes. Don't get me wrong, I fully endorse dressing like a bum. Do it all the time. But these girls spend inordinate amounts of time on their appearance for the rest of the semester and then as soon as exams hit they don't have enough time to do that because they need to go surf facebook for 5 hours in the library.

Seems pretty weird to me.

Damn I can be negative sometimes.

Anyways, I put my feet up in the library and immediately thought "Goddamn I love these shoes", in reference to the aforementioned green mids. They are my skating shoes, so I guess they recall that activity, but I just also love slipping on a pair of old beat up vans that have been broken in. Combined with The Upsides following the Lit cover in my Wonder Years discography and that coffee hittin' the spot, it made for a pretty good feeling.

Didn't mean to get so pissed off about people I don't know at the end, but you get what I'm saying right?

Everybody just calm down a little bit. Things are never as bad as you think they are.

Friday, December 3, 2010

It is a really common thing that people wish on the time 11:11. I don't know why, but assume that it's just because it's the same number four times. People also point out when it is 12:34, since it's four sequential numbers. A time that I usually make note of (to myself, because nobody else would get it) is 7:17, because of the song "Seven Seventeen" by the band Hopesick.

They're a pretty small band and broke up two years ago. But every time I see the numbers 7, 1, and 7 in that order it reminds me of them and makes me smile.

I wanted to put up the song, but since they were a tiny band, their songs never made it onto youtube. Check 'em out though!

Thursday, December 2, 2010

I am supposed to be writing an assignment right now, but instead I have decided on listen to Dr. Dre's "2001" and writing a blog instead.

I have had the prof for this class many times before (the faculty for Art History at Guelph is pretty limited) and am unsure if I like her. On one hand she seems to mark pretty easily sometimes (about 50% of the time), gives midterms that are very brief considering it's a third year class and her final assignments are never just your run of the mill research paper (they usually allow more room for creativity). On the other hand, she never seems to understand what I try to do with my assignments. (Her English is also sometimes hard to follow, though she wasn't born here and English isn't her first language, so that's bound to happen).

Alright, before I continue. I like to consider myself a creative individual. I play bass and guitar. I write a lot (between here and on my own). I like to write music a lot. I like to draw (not very seriously, but it is something that I really enjoy). I also think that I'm someone who stands out in a crowd. When I'm slouching in my spot on the couch, in checkerboard slip-ons, wearing a greasy tank-top, tight-jeans, some bright flip-up hat, listening to Anthrax and playing pokemon on my laptop, I get the idea that my closest friends kind of write it off as a "just Timmy being Timmy" type deal. Definitely okay with that, don't worry if you think that, I like it. But anyways, I think that "being Timmy" sets me apart from most people.

So this "being Timmy" is something that I've been trying to incorporate in my scholarly ventures more and more (such as that presentation that I mentioned in a blog not too long ago). This is usually easiest for me to do with the assignments that this prof gives out. For example, last year we had to design our own exhibition for a gallery and do a write-up about it. I chose to do mine about a fictional "Pez Exhibition" based around my collection. I thought it was pretty clever; a postmodern exhibition showing found items that show how "little boys don't grow up" (because I sure haven't). She did not. But she did think that another student's project showing her purse collection was clever.

I don't want to be "that guy" who always whines about how other people are getting the breaks and stuff and coasting through school, but I think that's pretty bullshit. I mean, I'm pretty sure the reason she didn't really like it was because she had no idea what Pez was before, and the exhibition seemed weird and she didn't understand it. But mostly what it boils down to is her just not being familiar with and not liking my interests, which I am trying to include in the project in order to make it distinguishable from everyone else's work.

So I'm pretty sure this is going to happen again. Our project for this class is to design a tour of a place for someone. I chose New York because it is pretty much the only place I'v travelled to (try and tell me you want a paper about Detroit with a straight face. Please try.). I decided to design the tour for my brother, because we share some interests and he would probably enjoy a trip to New York. I don't want to say that we're hipsters (but then again, is there a more hipster thing to say than "I'm not a hipster"? I still listen to The Hippos, so I think I'm okay) but we do like things that are a little out of the mainstream and "hip". For example, one of the spots I'm using is Washington Square Park. I guess "hipsters" would like the place because its location in Greenwich Village and how Bob Dylan used to hang out there and Jack Kerouac lived there (I also think this is pretty cool because Bob Dylan really rules a lot and On The Road is one of my favourite books. Fuck, I'm a hipster aren't I?). It's also relevant to us because a lot of important street skating went on there in the early 90's. So that's what I'm trying to get across in this project. Like I said, she probably will think it's dumb again, mostly because I mention skateboarding and The Ramones. It gets under my skin.

I mean if you want me to write about the same shit that everyone has been writing about forever, then give me a research essay. But if you give out an assignment that caters to personal interest, then obviously my personal interests are going to come out in it.

I don't really know where I was going with this. When I start writing with only a vague idea of what's going on a conclusion never seems to materialize.

In my wild fantasy world where I have planned my entire life because I am extremely wealthy, I have a bunch of exotic pets. I think if I could domesticate them properly, I would have the best pets around (re: cutest). These are the first three that I would have:

Sunday, November 28, 2010

I'm a huge Less Than Jake fan. They are my favourite band. I love 'em to death and everything they've done. And yes, when I say "everything" that does include "In With The Out Crowd". It's not THAT bad. I mean how can you hate an album with songs as catchy as this:

I think that Lagwagon that just gets written off as "one of those 90's skatepunk bands" too often. I mean they were a skatepunk band. They had the "megabeat" or "forbidden beat" drums, the fast palm-muting, the wah-peddle solos. But I really think they are up there as the best pop-punk band from the 90's. They are poppier than most of their peers and Joey Cape is just heads and shoulders above all of them as a song-writer. Seriously one of my favourite lyricists ever. I think it's pretty dumb that bands like this can only tour big festivals or random short club tours because they don't have the draw used to, but these bands can go on giant package tours. Like really dumb. Just listen to this and try not to smile and belt out the words (once you know them at least, haha):

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Well, I guess it's time for my biannual get nostalgic about Scarborough post (and I even know what nostalgia really means now because of one of my classes! So I guess I should have said "reflective nostalgic post". Oh well, shoot me.). But this one is unlike my other ones.

Often times I get extremely fed-up with school and sick of my environment and just really need a change of scenery. Final assignments are often all due at the same time, I get sort of bummed out and run out of money and just think "Fuck this. I'm out. I'm done. Get me home so that I can retain that last shred of sanity that is dangling from the front of my brain." But I have to say that this isn't the case this time.

I mean I've still got a ton of work to do. I'm not looking forward to having to make that last push to finish all this shit, but you know what? Things could be way worse than having to write three essays. A hell of a lot worse. So my complaining really just isn't warranted at all.

But I am still very stoked to get back home. Christmas break absolutely rules. All my friends are home at the same time and it's only half-way through the year so we still have some money left to have fun. I like hanging with those dudes a lot and miss it tons when I'm away at school. Obviously everyone can relate to this. I mean, you're away from people you care about, missing them seems to be the gut reaction.

I have a few plans set in stone for the break (just wait until you hear SHARK ATTACK!, my oh my) but other than that I just plan to relax, see my friends, destroy a few cases of beer and have some fun.

Life is pretty simple if you want it to be. The more complicated you make it, the more it sucks.

PMA.

I kind of think that's perfect "emo" (yea, I know original emo was around before The Get-Up Kids and sounded different. Whatever.). Five normal dudes who are starting to pack on the pounds because they're getting up there in age playing poppy-punk rock music with honest music about their emotions. Not some fucker in Nike dunks with hair that looks a badger pelt on his head. Look for honesty in music, above everything else.

When I put the link to my movember page up somewhere online, a ton of random donations come in. This is really, really awesome. I assume it's because they want to donate and just do a google search for a page or something and mine pops up. So I'm going to post the link again here for that reason:

Sunday, November 21, 2010

It's the first all-nighter of the year. I hate them, but have already detailed why I hate them, so I'll lay off. I promised myself, after a particularly bad experience of pulling one last year, that I would never ever pull one again, no matter what, but since then I've pulled a few. Definitely nowhere near the amount that were happening before, but but still have done a few.

It really comes down to me being an extremely unmotivated individual. I always think "Okay, start ___ on ___" then I go to the library and generally don't do anything. Eventually I compromise in my head that if I do ___ on ___ then I should still be fine. I keep compromising until it's the night before I have essentially nothing to show for it. This is all fine and dandy for essays, I mean I can hand them in late. I lose marks and it sucks, but I can hand them in late. This was part of my promise of stopping the all-nighters.

But tomorrow I have my term presentation in my fourth year seminar class. This I cannot do late. I need to have this ready to go by 7pm tomorrow. It's doable. But goddamn is it ever going to suck. Every year I promise myself that I will try harder in school and not sell myself short in my subjects. Every year, I do not do this. I like to think I am not dumb. Not necessarily an extremely intelligent person, but least slightly above average in intelligence. Does this not giving a fuck in school make me dumb though? Is that fundamental action of actually doing everything required in every class an important part in determining how smart you are.

I mean obviously some people are actually geniuses. They can pick up on concepts quickly, have an incredible memory and don't need to do all the work that others do because they actually just don't have to. Most people really need to grind knowledge into their brains, the work (readings if you are a BA, practice problems if you're a Math major, etc.), is given so that you can pick up what's going on in class more easily. So even though there are people who might score lower on a completely out of the blue, cold standardized test than I would, they are probably smarter than me for having the presence of mind to actually do what they are supposed to.

I guess part of it is that I just sort of don't give a shit right now. Well, I give enough of a shit to not fail and want to complete my degree. But not enough of one to complete it with any fanfare. But, I'm sure I will give a shit in about 5 years. Hell, probably less than that. These people clearly recognize that giving a shit is important at this stage and do so.

A lot of people (me included in the past, I try not to do this anymore because I recognize the error in the statement) say things like "Oh, well I'm just as smart as him. He just works harder. Goes home and does like 3 hours of problems." Does that not make that person smarter then? To recognize what will give them the best possible chance of getting a good mark and understanding material and then (I guess logically) give a better chance at an easier life later on? I'm starting to lean towards yes more and more all the time.

I dunno, I swear that band that I'm not in is going to take off any day now...

I hope this doesn't sound too much like an apathetic whiney rant about school, because that's really not what I'm going for.

So, uh, I guess I was talking about this 4th year class at some point?

It's fucking hard. And I mean, classes have been progressively harder since kindergarden. But fuck this class is the biggest jump yet. I usually find myself sitting in the classroom listening to the prof lecturing and have really no idea about half the time. I used to pick up on things pretty quickly and could really get by, but fuck (hahaha, buttfuck) this does not happen here. After the lecture he usually tries to initiate some sort of discussion, but this usually fails. It's always the same 2 or 3 kids that speak, mainly because I think everyone else is as confused as I am? Is it just the prof? In my case, at least, I really don't think so.

This is also why I am worried about this presentation. I do not want to come off as a total moron in front of the class. People got up and gave presentations on postmodern theory-this and dreamstate-that. The only thing running through my head is "Fuck man!"

I'm banking on people not having heard of what I'm talking about, my habit of over-simplifying things to the point where it sounds like I'm talking to Damien in presentations and the hope that the audience has seen Billy Madison to pull this one through for me.

Because if these guys don't have a sense of humour, then this 21 year-old in a Hawaiian shirt explaining how Marcel Duchamp's most famous art piece is like Adam Sandler lighting a bag of dog poo on fire is up shitcreek.

And to think all that time could have been devoted to my presentation. The fuckin' way she goes.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Thursday, November 18, 2010

I have not been updating this thing very often lately. This is because I have a literal mound of work to do. By a week Monday I need to write somewhere in the vicinity of 50 pages worth of essays and do a presentation. This is fucking hard. As much I was would like to write about things I actually care and think about, there's no time for that. So no more joints and only library.

But I guess I can squeeze out a post without much substance. This is sort of relevant. I'm laying off the recreational narcotics because whatever it is that let's your brain work properly and get things done, weed is filled with the opposite. It just makes me want to sit around and listen to music and watch stupid cartoons on TV (Squidbillies?). But anyways here are my favourite songs to listen to after a session of inhalation:

Speed Metal?

80's Post-Punk?

90's Indie?

Goth? Emo? Pop? I don't know how to label The Cure, but I love them.

...And just because putting this on when we do is a favourite past time of my house:

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Jawbreaker is a band that I really like, but skimp on listening to for some reason a lot. But in all my Jawbreaker/Blake loving, I've never checked out Jets To Brazil.

They're the band that Blake Shwarzenbach (the former singer and song-writer from Jawbreaker) formed after the demise of the latter's epic career. Their music style is sort of an extension of what Jawbreaker was going for on "Dear You". They are definitely in no way shape or form a punk band (I guess you could say the members are sort of punk. Though most would say they're not. Fuck them.), unlike Jawbreaker. Really just a pop band, but accompanied by Blake's always depressing/awesome lyrics. When you consider the amount of absolutely amazing/classic songs he's put out between these bands, it's really hard to ignore the fact that he's one of the best song writers of all time. I mean they guy is probably the most instrumental in making "emotional punk/rock" music in the 90's. And I guess 2000's because Jets To Brazil carried on for a little bit into that decade (feels really weird not referring to it as "this" decade).

But yea, I just got this album and it rules.

And if you're a girl, they got their name from a poster in Breakfast At Tiffany's. So I guess that's incentive to check this song. Because every girls seems to love that movie. Works if you're guy too. Movie is a "classic", though I've only seen it once.

I just went and read through a huge chunk of this thing. One thing I really noticed was that when I was feeling really down in the dumps, I obviously write about it in some way here. Then I would always follow it up with "I know it sounds like I'm bummed out, but I'm not. Don't worry about me!" I think this stems from the fact that I really don't like spreading my problems onto other people. People who act like some personal problem is making their world cave in around them and then pour their problems on everyone really get on my nerves.

I mean, I can understand if something huge happens. Someone close to you dies? Your significant other breaks up with you? Those are big things in your life. You need others to help you work through it. You fucked up on an exam? Watch out! Your life is over!

More or less, everyone has the same smaller problems in their life. Chances are, if you're aged 18-25 you are: trying to figure out your love life, trying to figure out how to stop being an alcoholic, trying to figure out what you are going to do for the rest of your life and trying to figure out why/why not you are in school, most people just only talk about it to their closest friends. So don't worry so much. Or worry I guess, but don't let it turn you into some emotional wreck.

But yea, I'm going to try to avoid saying "I'm not bummed out, don't worry!" when I actually am anymore.

Yo,

Crime In Stereo, I know your last shows were only just this weekend, but comeback please?

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Man, I hate how blogspot fucks up the font whenever you copy and paste from somewhere (this obviously happened in the last post). Sometimes I either write the posts in Microsoft word, or copy and paste into it for various reasons and the result is uneven font size and style. It's a little thing and it pisses me off. Get yer shit together blogspot.

Speaking of getting your shit together.

Dudes on the third floor of the library: Flush your shits.

I can understand if you leave a monstrous log, you leave it. You know other will appreciate it. But man, is that hard flush after you're done taking a regular one? Today every stall had a toilet full of piss and shit. S'gross dude.

Alright, so I sit down in a cubicle on the third floor of the library to do some work. As per usual there is "graffiti" adorning the sides and the desk surface in this cubicle (there is a specific word for when people write in public places like this, like in a washroom stall, but I can't remember it. Damn yo.). This usually makes me pretty stoked. Sometimes it's funny. Usually it's people showing how moronic they actually are. One time it was a chain of Star Wars references, and that made me smile because I'm a dork.

Anyways, this one started with one person writing "Speak now", obviously trying the put some vaguely motivation sentiment into this work station. It is followed in different coloured ink by "or forever hold your peace", obviously someone trying to continue the message? I dunno, they felt like writing it. Cool. Then after that there is "**piece", clearly somebody trying to correct an already grammatically correct sentence. After that it goes into people saying "I love Reece's Pieces!" and keeps going for a bit, but that's not relevant to this blog! So fuck it!

This made me think about how anal some people are about correcting other's grammar, even though they themselves often make mistakes. Now don't get me wrong, bad grammar does piss me off. Misuse of "you're" and "your" is irritating and people who say "I could care less" are another one. I guess it can make you seem as though you didn't pay attention in school and are a bit of a tool. I mean you got all the words there, step two is figuring out how to use them properly.

But I also don't want to come off as some all knowing, authoritative power on grammar. I mean look at this blog. There's probably tons of grammatical errors on this blog I haven't noticed. Actually, there is definitely some. So I guess this leads to the main thing.

Why the fuck is everyone so strung up on correcting everyone else all the time? Seriously? I can understand if it's a really important issue and it can create an interesting argument, but doesn't it piss you off when people stop others just to correct some minor detail? It sure as hell pisses me off.

There was one time I was having a conversation with someone and I said something along the lines of "... it would have been funner if more people came...", they laughed and said something like "Oh, Timmy. Funner isn't a word." In fact I said that because I think I said more right before that or something and thought that saying "more fun" would sound dumb. Then not five minutes later they said "addicting". I guess, if you are going to correct someone, make sure you are actually in the position to, y'know? What's that saying from the bible? Let he who is without drink grab the first slurpee?

Let's say the individual who wrote "peace" is El Duderino and the individual who wrote "piece" is His Dudeness.

Okay, His Dudeness. Odds are not only have you never met El Duderino, but you don't even know who he is. If El Duderino was in a lineup, you would most likely pick Jeffrey Lebowski, or even the Nihilists instead because you don't even fucking know who he is. Not only that, but you are so preoccupied with correcting the Duderino that you don't even notice that you're completely fucking wrong (unless you were trying to make a pun on the saying, trying to imply that one needs to hold their gun or their dong. In which case, I give you a standing ovation.). But man, relax.

I have a friend who says, for example, "I could care less about seeing this band...etc." do I stop him in the middle of this statement to correctly inform that he should in fact be saying "I could not care less about seeing this band"? No, I do not. Because I still completely, 100% understand what he is saying and me correcting him would only make me seem like a giant douche and it would throw a stick in the bike wheels of him finishing what he trying to say.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

This morning I was hungover as all hell. Seriously. Playing beer pong with malt liquor is not a good idea. I felt I was a piece of shit with a shakeweight for a stomach trapped in a dead 21 year-old skeleton's body. It was one of those morning where you just toss and turn in your bed because you don't know if you're too hot or too cold and all you want to do is pass out but you can't because your headache is keeping you awake.

Eventually I put on some Alkaline Trio and managed to salvage a nap after taking some advil. Because of the order on my itunes, All came one after Alkaline Trio. Around the time track four, She's My Ex (that's one of my favourite songs ever!) came I noticed it was pretty sunny and I had to crack a smile. It's impossible to feel bummed out and shitty while hearing that main riff, and who hates sunshine?

It seems like this all I write about over and over. "Hey man, don't feel sad! There's lots of things to be happy about!" But seriously, being positive seems to be one of the main things I think about. Being sad is not a fun thing. It's really easy to always cave to it, but you just can't. It makes the rest of your life harder and it makes you a lot less fun to be around. It's a vicious cycle man.

Soundtrack to this morning:

Jets To Brazil- You're Having The Time Of My Life (goes out to everyone at Fest, haha)

Alkaline Trio- Radio

Alkaline Trio- This Addiction (the whole deluxe version of the album!)

P.S., the best part of last night was when Brian and I were playing beer as team "Mega Powers" (we dressed up as Hulk Hogan and Macho Man Randy Savage for Halloween, respectively) and we made a huge comeback and I ended up hitting the last cup. As soon as it went in, Brian tore his shirt in half like the Hulk would and everyone went crazy. It was so sick.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

The Smoking Popes are one of those bands that I probably should have checked out a long time ago. Josh Caterer has a very distinctive vocal style (someone on youtube commented: "it sounds like Sinatra got a punk band!) and it is really what separates the band from others. Later in their career he got really into Christianity ("I Know You Love Me" isn't about his wife), but the first album is just love-lorn emo-ish/pop/punk gold with him crooning every word.

Monday, October 25, 2010

I'm sure that everyone has their own version of what I'm about to write about. You know when you're listening to a song and there's a part that just makes you go "Oh, fuck yea."? I don't mean like a guitar riff or a particular lyric, I mean like just a little tiny part. Maybe a few seconds long tops? I don't know if it's just because I play an instrument and have written songs. No it's not, that sounds out of control pretentious. Whatever, I listen to music pretty much all the time, so sometimes I notice little parts in songs I like and it makes me like them a lot more.

So yea.

In this one, the "Woo!" right before the riff picks up (0:26)(it was a lot more prevalent in the split version of this song, but alas, it was not on youtube) also the "Get up and dance!" around 2:24. The split version is actually way better. Damn.

The drum fill right before the second verse of this song (1:11) makes me squeal. I fucking love it so much.

The bass fill in this song. Around 1:48.

The pick slide at the end of this song, right before the tempo picks up a bit(3:10). It makes me feel like I can take on the world. Combined with the little bit of feedback you can hear throughout that whole part when ever the guitars stop? Holy fuck man.

This is probably the biggest one. When that bassline comes in. Goddamn it gets me every time. Just always puts a huge grin on my face.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Cancer has been somewhat involved for the last little while in my life.

Out of nowhere in 2005, my mom was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Fortunately, we caught it early. She had surgery to remove the tumor and underwent chemotherapy and beat it like a fucking champ. Luckily, there hasn't been any sign of it since.

It puts things in perspective. Having someone close to you be that sick shows how quickly someone can leave your life, with it being totally out of your control. There are tons of people who lose very important people in their life every day due to cancer and there is nothing they can do about it. Kids getting left on their own? Fuck man. Fuck.

I've always been a fan of "no-shave November" or "movemeber" just because I love to grow beards and mustaches. This year I found out that a charity is tied to it. Movember encourages guys to grow mustaches in order to promote men's health and raise money for prostate cancer research. I was very stoked to find this organization. 'Cause I fucking hate cancer. And if my growing of a mustache, which I was going to grow for November anyways, can aid in getting rid of it, well then fuckin' 'eh.

I've always been pretty scared about the possibility of going bald one day. I've never been bald and really don't think I'd look very normal. It's also kind of emasculating, y'know? Well yea, I've always been terrified of losing my hair, but it's never seemed like a real possibility. I mean I've always had pretty thin hair, but it didn't seem like it was all going to come out.

Well recently my hair's been getting pretty long. I've wanted to grow it out really long for a while and only decided to go through with it recently. I've had to comb it much more, so as to avoid the dreadlocks that would form with my very curly hair. So recently my hair was felt much thinner than normal and I've noticed that my hair line has apparently moved back quite a bit. You can try and convince me if you want but it doesn't matter; I am going bald.

So yes, recently I've been complaining about it much more. My friends say "Shut up, you're just paranoid, relax.", it doesn't change anything in my mind, but my friends are tired of hearing about it.

So anyways, moral of this whole thing: Today as I was walking to night class I saw a guy that I recognized from one of my prior classes. Not even a dude that I know, just someone who I visually recognized. This isn't out of the ordinary, only so many people on campus and I also have a pretty stupid memory, to the point that if I see you semi-regularly, you're in my mind forever.

But this guy used to have a thick, curly afro. It's been replaced with a bandana over a bald head. It made me think; "Fuck, I'm bitching like it's the end of the world about me "going bald", for him it's just a side-affect of his chemotherapy." Man woe is me. I'm acting like losing my hair is the end of my life, this guy is not only going bald, but also has to deal with a life-threatening illness.

I really try to keep a positive head and look at what I got, but a lot of the times, I don't even notice when I don't.

Tell me this more please, even if I don't listen, it'll sink in eventually.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

A while ago it was a really popular thing on facebook that people would write out "20 Things You May Not Know About Me" notes and tag all their best friends in them. Most people just kind of said things that were distinctive about them, but everyone knew already. I didn't do it at them the time because I "thought it was dumb" even though I read all of the ones I was tagged in by my friends. Don't forget, I'm "punk" and have a reputation to keep up.

All kidding aside, I think it's kind of a rad idea, especially since I think there's a ton of stuff that people probably don't know about me. I don't know if I'll go over or under 20, but anyways heeerrrreeegoes:

1. Biggest one I guess, once you get to know me I'm a pretty emotional guy. This is definitely not my first impression because chances are if you meet me sober, then I'm super shy and quiet. If you meet me drunk, I'm loud and dumb.

2. I am PETRIFIED of losing my hair. I have pretty thin hair already and the thought of me being bald, let alone bald at a young age, scares me to fucking death. I think I would look pretty fucking weird with no hair.

3. I go through phases where I listen to really corny love songs. I don't mean like New Found Glory or Blink. I mean like Hall & Oats and Macy Gray. The one occupying this spot at the moment is “Keep On Lovin’ You” by REO Speedwagon. Don't judge me please.

4. On that note: there's a lot of stuff you might be surprised I listen to. Ex. Al Green.

5. Redheads drive me absolutely bananas. I don’t know what it is.

6. I used to hate myself a lot. That’s all over now though! Positive Mental Attitude! Bend but never break!

7. You’ll probably think this is weird, but every now and then I really like to showers with the lights off, so it’s only natural light in the washroom.

8. I hate my hair. I’m sure if you’re a girl, curly hair is rad because you can style however you want and all that shit. You know what I can do with my hair? Fucking nothing. Either jew ‘fro or hat hair. That’s all I got. I would kill for my hair to be straight as an arrow.

9. I also hate the way my voice sounds. I remember the first time I heard it played back to me, all I could think was “Man, there’s no way I actually sound like that”. I think everybody sort of thinks that, but fuck I think mine sounds lame.

10. I am also aware that I am not an attractive dude. It’s alright; I’ve come to terms with it.

Enough self-depreciation for now!

11. I love dogs. A lot!

12. Sort of a tie into #3 I guess, but I’m the biggest sucker for love songs that there is.

13. I really like to make people laugh. I really don’t care about making fun of myself or doing dumb things at my own expense as long as everyone around me is smiling and having a good time.

14. I know that on first impression I can seem like a bit of a dumbass. I quote stupid movies, I do dumb things (especially when I drink) and I seem to have a lowbrow sense of humour. Don’t get me wrong, I do like all these things, Billy Madison will be my favourite movie forever. But I also like more cerebral things as well. Catch 22 is a hilarious book, The Life Aquatic makes me piss my pants and I go to museums and art galleries because I genuinely enjoy them, not to try and seem cultured.

15. On that note; I really don’t think I’m that smart of a dude. Maybe a 6.5-7 out of 10.

16. I really like being in a relationship. Being single kind of sucks, I’d much rather have girlfriend to talk to. Not to say I’m not happy when I’m on my own, but I’d rather have the ol’ ball and chain to come home to y’know?

17. Even though I don’t skank like I used to and listen to a much wider variety music now than I did when I was 16, I will always be a ska kid at heart. Ska’d 4 lyfe.

18. I can, and enjoy speaking French, though I’ve lost a lot of it since getting to high school.

19. My feet (especially in the summer, when I never wear socks with my vans) (and especially when I have on my really old teal and grey slip-ons) have the most ungodly scent on this earth. I’ve been told the Canadian army is scouting them for chemical warfare.

20. I like girls who are little unkept and rough around the edges. If you are too into yourself, it makes me want to stop talking to you.

21. Mexican food is my favourite type of food.

22. I crank up music and rock out playing along to it all the time in my room.

23. Bill Murray is my favourite actor. He is the funniest person of all time and a god among men.

24. I’m the worst at returning texts and calls. Usually I get one, then pause trying to think of a witty response that makes me seem a lot smarter and cooler than I actually am. Then I get distracted and realize three hours later I haven’t returned it yet. That and I leave my phone around all the time. I don't like having it in my pocket because I’d rather not have testicular cancer.

25. I know that sometimes I can be overly sarcastic and it gives people a weird impression of me. I’m actually trying to not be so much of an asshole anymore. Seriously!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

The band Nix86 combines my three favourite things about music: Pop-punk, ska and songs about girls.

They aren't very well known (at least I'm pretty sure they aren't) because they don't go out of their way to advertise themselves and rarely play shows, let alone do a tour. BUT they are pretty much an all-star super ska-punk band if you know anything about Long Island ska (my favourite type of ska!). Member's former project include: High School Football Heroes, Edna's Goldfish, The Arrogant Sons of Bitches, Bomb The Music Industry!, The Flaming Tsunamis and We Are The Union. If you to stroll over to my last.fm page (Here, if you want to. I wouldn't though. Shit's mad boring.), then you can see why I would get so stoked over this. George writes really awesome lyrics, in my opinion. His old band (and also old band of some other members), the aforementioned High School Football Heroes, broke up because apparently ska kids thought they were too emo to be ska and emo kids were like "What the fuck is a trombone?!?". But anyways, he continues his stories of love gone wrong in this band. And I really fucking like it.

The music is just poppy as hell and usually accompanied by a dancy ska beat. It makes me smile and puts me in a good mood all the time.

Really though, there's a link to download their demo on their MySpace and you should totally do that. It's pretty good quality and it's free and I listen to it all the time because the songwriting is so damn good.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Alright, I was thinking about how people have pet names for their significant others today (Sidenote: Pet name is just one of those things I say without actually thinking what I’m saying. When I actually do think about, it’s kind of weird. When I say pet, I think of my dogs. Comparing your girlfriend to a pet is a little odd, no?).

I was thinking about this because today I’ve been listening to I Am The Avalanche on repeat. One of my favourite lines from them is from the song “Green Eyes”, “Baby, these blue eyes are never as bright without you”. Yea I know, I’m fuckin’ emo. Sidenote: Every time I hear that song I think of Big Trouble In Little China, because oh how big a deal Lopan makes over girls with green eyes. And it’s one of my favourite movies.

Anyways, yea I was thinking about how much I like that line, but at the same time how I’ve never call my girlfriends baby. When I say it, it just seems forced and feels weird coming out of my mouth, you know? Same thing goes for honey, sweetie, babe, etc.

BUT, at the same time I like a lot of songs that use said words in them. Baby is all over this I Am The Avalanche record and god knows The Ergs! have used it more than a few times in their songs. If want to be a superstar punk rock love-song writer (which I totally do) I guess I should start then, eh?

Am I hypocrite for thinking that “Everything Falls Apart” by The Ergs! Is a rad song, but would feel like a tool saying “baby, tell another lie” in real life?

I really need start keeping track of my ideas in a better way. I had a bunch while I was writing this and forgot almost all of them.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

They've been releasing these "mixtape" things recently. I was pretty confused as to what that entailed. Others' songs? There was an different artist attached to each song, so... collaborations?

I guess so. On the most recent mixtape edition, there's a pretty wide variety of artists (from P.O.S. to Dead To Me to Glasses) and Comadre has a pretty unique sound to begin with.

Well, the result is certainly interesting. Each song really is completely different in style from every other song. Sort of shouted/screamed vocals, one song that has a very Jamaican influence, one hip song, one sort of country one.

Friday, October 1, 2010

I saw Fireworks last night. They played the best set I've ever seen them play for sure. Sure their music is stupidly poppy-generic pop-punk, but you know what? It's fucking fun. The only thing I don't like about seeing them live, and something that used to deter me from listening to them before, is the four or five kids who are always there throwing down and acting like they're at Trapped Under Ice show. Even though I don't do it, I can see how it would be fun when you're seeing a hardcore band. I'll even give you Set Your Goals and Four Year Strong because they have "heavy" parts. But Fireworks? C'mon son! Some of their songs are one step away from being "Build Me Up Buttercup" (I still love them, don't worry, but seriously). Especially when some other kids are trying to have fun, but you're flying around hitting them with your spinning arms.

Like guys, fuck off. Seriously.

Wearing my Fireworks shirt, at the moment, gives me the sense that I am required to be stoked. They're a fun band!

I am currently in my fourth year at university and continuing my half-assing ways. Maybe I'll change right?

Everybody is too critical of everyone else and everybody needs to relax the fuck out. Who even cares if you don't know them?

There was a news report about the town of Guelph and how they need to up police presence downtown because of all the drunk students. Good thing? I guess we're getting a reputation for partying hard and being rowdy. That's pretty rad. Bad thing? For some reason guys really like to fight when they drink. I don't really know why. I just try to have the best time I can when I drink.

Last night The Swellers (I really, really liked their last album, then the new one came out and I didn't dig it as much. After last night I'm back on them.) covered "May 16th" by Lagwagon. There was like three of us that knew the song, but whatevs. I'll love skate-punk forever and ever.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Today in Guelph it’s raining. It was raining when I went to bed last night and it was raining when I woke up this morning. It got me thinking about how people say that they like the rain all the time and why that might be.

I guess a major thing about it is the sound. This is sort of the only part I can relate to. Sometimes rainy days are kind of fun. You can just take the day off, not get dressed, watch Ghostbusters, order a pizza and not do much else. But this sounds an awful lot like most days in my life, with the only variation being the sound of water hitting everything outside. So yea, I guess that sound is pretty relaxing, I’ll give them that, but I would be just as pleased if there was some nice sunshine coming through my windows while Bill Murray yanked out the tablecloths in that dining hall.

Plus if it’s a sunny day out, I have the option of doing things outside. I can go skate and grab a grapeaid at the convenience store if I want to. If it’s raining out, all this becomes a royal pain in the ass.

So I guess this point ties into what I just said. While curling up with Dr. Venkman and a large ‘za in basketball shorts and my Daggermouth hoodie is very appealing, I’ve got all winter to do that. When you actually have things to do (ex. going to class) when it’s raining, it fucking sucks. It was raining pretty hard one day last week too. Even though I was standing under the tree beside my bus stop, I still got soaked. Going through a lengthy bus ride and a 90 minute lecture in a light grey hoodie with a dark back and sleeves and jeans that are stiff from rain is not fun.

When it’s raining it’s also very rare that the weather is warm. I’m sure you’ve already drawn this conclusion, but let me tell you anyways; being wet and cold at the same time fucking sucks. Come to think of it, there are only three times that I enjoy being wet: when I am swimming, when I am showering and when it’s too hot at work in the summer and I jump in the pool to cool off. I don’t like just lounging around wet man. I think that’s pretty weird. You know?

I also find (apologies if this sounds like me being pretentious and bitching about hipsters) that some people say they like the rain just so it sounds like they’re “different” or “individual”. You like walking around downtown Toronto in the rain? It reeks like Satan’s asshole and the roads are uneven so when you cross the street your vans get wet, feel like you’re walking in mud and your feet stink. There’s a line from a Wonder Years song (hey, I’m listening to that record right now! Best of the year by a wide margin. Oh and the song this line is from, “This Party Sucks”, is up there as the best song of the year in my opinion.) “Can someone tell these kids, liking the rain no longer counts as an idiosyncrasy”, which I think sums up what I was just saying. Telling a girl you like to stand outside and get wet doesn’t make you sound deep asshole. Like it says right there in the song; so many people say it that it isn’t even distinctive anymore.

I don’t know, maybe I’m just an asshole and don’t get it. Or maybe I would rather wear my dumb sunglasses, dumb tank tops and dumb cut-offs in the sun than a jacket to try and keep dry.

Monday, September 20, 2010

The first time I heard about them, they were opening for NoFX on tour during the height of my NoFX fandom. I knew they were Canadian, on Fat Wreck Chords and apparently had some ska songs.

Fast-forward this summer. I won a Fat Wreck contest and it came with a sort of "Greatest Hits" of the label. I knew pretty much all of the songs already but there were a few I didn't. One of these was "I Remember You" by Chixdiggit. I found that I really, really liked that song and it really became one of my "summer jams".

So I just got their full length "Pink Razors" that that song was off of. IT'S REALLY GOOD YO! Sort of likeRamones, Screeching Weasel, etc. pop-punk, but the production is different and makes it sound really good. There's something else that makes it different, but I can't really put my finger on it. The main dude is a great song-writer. Not in the sense that he writes really introspective or individual lyrics, but in the sense that he is just an awesome pop-song writer and can get stuff stuck in your head for days. He also has a kind of Rivers Cuomo habit of throwing an absolutely fabulous guitar solo on every song. Not that they're huge face melters or anything but just that they fit the song perfectly.

Oh, and pretty much every song is about love and stuff. And I... uh... like that.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Alright, so yo (meant to be said in the manner of Donovan Strain) after a few days of internetless existence, I came online to find that No Trigger is getting their shit together and putting out a ton of new music! I first saw them when I saw Set Your Goals and Daggermouth also for the first time about 4 years ago. That show was pretty pivotal in me expanding my musical tastes, rediscovering my love for pop-punk as well as being a gateway into hardcore. I wasn't digging them that much at the time, but got their album "Canyoneer" later and really, really liked it a lot. They are definitely one of the bands that works hard but doesn't really get any recognition for it. You know those bands that seem to be a favourite of other bands and go on rad tours, but the kids just don't really go crazy over it? These guys. Probably one of the reasons they slowed down for a while.

They play fucking fast and their singer fucking rules and they have some rad guitar lines.

So first, the video explaining the situation (I love the Bigwig reference right at the beginning) (also, notice how all the kids at Warped Tour don't know who they are, but all the guys in the actually respectable bands on Warped do):

The first time I went through a break-up the only thing I listened to was "Three Cheers For Disappointment" because it was the only thing that made me feel better. I was 17, naive and thought I'd never recover and those 13 songs were my whole world. I got heavily into BtMI! afterwards because a lot of the kids at my high-school (sort of prestigious private school in Toronto. Not tooting my own horn, I'm a moron.) were pretty well-off and had high-paying careers lined up for them because of their parents (I really, REALLY liked "To Leave or Die in Long Island" because of this. I would line it up so that "Syke! Life Is Awesome!" would be the last song I heard on my walk home from school.) I also started to get depressed semi-frequently and obviously this issue is dealt with all the time in BtMI!'s lyrics. I finally saw them about two years ago and obviously Jeff was walking around before because it was a small shitty punk venue. I stopped him and said "Hey man, Three Cheers got me through a lot of stuff. Thanks a lot dude." and he said "Aw thanks" and gave me a giant bear hug. He had on the same sweater as me and the same shoes and it made me think of the third verse of "Syke..." because sort of the same thing happens to Jeff.I legitimately almost cried because it meant so much to meet the guy (I don't think he could tell. That would have been fucking weird. Then he fucking rocked the house.tl;dr. I hate break-ups. I hate people moving forward while I feel like I'm staying put. Sometimes I feel really shitty. Jeff's songs deal with those topics better than any others for me.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Unfortunately my laptop, affectionately known as "the craptop" or "crappy" for short, has finally gone to computer heaven. By the end of it it had:

1 permenant black thumb print in the upper centre of the screen.1 large crack running from the upper centre to the lower right of the screen.1 corner held together by green painting tape.1 missing ctrl key.1 non-functional left mouse button.1 external wireless card because the original melted.1 battery that could only hold a 30 minute charge.

It really got to be a pain in the ass and I was pretty much the only person that could actually use because of all the nuances that went along with it, but you know what? I'm going to fucking miss that thing. It had fucking character. But I know now that it's in a better place, frollicking in laptop heaven, computing in a binary code meadow.

But yea, I haven't really been able to write out stuff since I've been using my family's desktop in the mean time. Fortunately I have a new one on the way, so full length, me rambling about positivity and life and music will resume once I have it in my possession. This situation also impeded my ability to post youtube videos (because this computer sucks), which seems to be the crutch of this fucking thing.

So soon I'll be at school putting off work with a new laptop. Expect blogs pour out by the thousands.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

1. The sort of serious music one:Go here. This site does sort-of interviews with bands about their songs. They write out all the lyrics and then the songwriter explains why and how they wrote it, where the inspiration came from, etc. I find this to be really fucking cool. I absolutely love reading all the stories behind my favourite songs, so this obviously appeals to me. The bands featured fucking rule too (Lemuria, Shook Ones, Make Do And Mend, Touche Amore, it goes on).

That's really one of the big reasons I love Less Than Jake so much. Nearly every song has a rad little anecdote tied into it, that when known, makes the song that much better (ex: 9th at Pine off "Losing Streak" is about Vinnie and Mike Park (Skankin' Pickle, on tour with them at the time) seeing a fight outside their show. Vinnie wonders to himself if he is the type of guy to go in and break up a fight between two kids who he's never met before in his life or just leave it because he doesn't know them and doesn't care. He ended up breaking up the fight). Come to think of it, Vinnie mentioned that he is putting out a book of all these little anecdotes at the end of the year and I forgot about that until now and could not be more stoked about it.

Got a little derailed there, but uh yea, go read about some bands I like making songs at that link.

Second thing:

Probably up there as the best site of all time. You all know you've seen hours and hours of "who's the father?" "are you cheating on me?" "my child is OUT OF CONTROL" and still end up watching about five minutes when flipping through the tv. Just a perfect way to capture that train-wreck of a tv show.